


It's Not Meant for Me

by HylianDerp



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Eating Disorders, Gen, I am kind of Projecting, This doesn't have a satisfying conclusion, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28208835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HylianDerp/pseuds/HylianDerp
Summary: Prompto has some... Problems with food.
Kudos: 12





	It's Not Meant for Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly just me projecting my own issues onto Prompto, and adjusting things to match his Brotherhood background. Hopefully things make at least a little bit of sense?

  * Prompto's earliest memories all centered around food. His mother's cooking (always lean meat, a side of vegetables, and a carb, never mixed together, always weighed and measured meticulously), comments about how much food he ate, tv hosts talking about being "naughty" for eating pizza or burgers… After his tenth birthday, his parents trusted him to stay home alone. Nobody was there to cook meals for him anymore, so he found himself soothing his resulting loneliness with his favorite fast food.
  * After eating exclusively convenience meals for weeks at a time for a few months, Prompto's classmates started pointing out the changes in his body. His formerly scrawny, almost concerningly underweight body was now softer. His belly protruded outward, cheeks rounded, thighs rubbed together when he walked. Between the unwanted attention from his peers and the negative reactions to weight gain he'd heard all his life, he saw the changes as inherently bad. He needed to rectify his error.
  * The first time Prompto tried to lose weight, he lasted four days. He ate exclusively yogurt for breakfast and salads (lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, without any dressing, or anything, really) for lunch and dinner, and went running every evening. But running was more difficult than it looked; he could only run a few feet before he had to stop to relieve the burning in his lungs, and his feet blistered up immediately. After going half a week without a substantial meal, he fell for the draw of a class pizza party. He had failed at his diet, so he stopped at the Crow's Nest on his way home from school for a consolation burger.
  * The next time Prompto went on a diet was more successful. He had an extra layer of motivation this time: he needed to make himself worthy of Prince Noctis' friendship, so Lady Lunafreya didn't think he was someone he wasn't. He looked up diet tips on his computer, took progress pictures on his camera, learned how to make running actually pleasant. Seeing that his effort was paying off made it even easier to stick with. Knowing that he was getting results made the hunger pangs and muscle aches worth it.
  * After a couple of years (and lots of tweaking of supplements so he didn't get so dizzy during school), he finally felt like he made enough progress. It was time to meet the prince for real! The boys found that they had a lot more in common than they originally expected, sharing most of the same hobbies and likes. They studied together most of the time, and loved to blow off steam at the arcade. The only problem? Noctis had a deep love of processed, salty, calorie-dense food, the exact kind of food that Prompto hadn't let himself eat in ages. He kept making excuses to avoid the snacks, but he was running out of both excuses and resolve. Those nachos looked really tasty…
  * Noctis consistently offered to buy Prompto treats that any high schooler would down without a second thought (between puberty boosting his metabolism and Gladio's grueling workouts, Noct was hungry! Sue him!). Why was Prompto always refusing? He had to be at least as hungry--Prompto's runs were no joke, and he nibbled at rabbit food for lunch. Was it some aversion to receiving things for free?
  * A few months after Noctis and Prompto became friends, Prompto's background check was completed, and he passed! Finally, the boys could hang out at Noctis' apartment! Arcades were fun and all, but sometimes you just want to go all out in a multiplayer console game with your bud. The first couple times Prompto came over, Ignis was there, so they had to actually do their homework and eat stupid veggie-ful food. Prompto claimed to not be hungry, leaving a good chunk of Ignis' (admittedly tasty) nutritious food.
  * The first time that Prompto went over without Ignis' supervision, all bets were off. The console was immediately turned on, and he and Noctis got sucked into their game. Eventually, Prompto's stomach made enough noise that Noctis heard, so the prince ordered a couple of the greasiest, meatiest pizzas that could be delivered to his building. Prompto's excuses not to eat fell on deaf ears.
  * When the pizza arrived, Prompto tried desperately to ignore the tantalizing aroma of food he hadn't let himself eat in ages. But his self-control eventually crumbled beneath the underhanded tactics of the prince (waving a slice directly under his nose? Really? That's just cheating!), And he took the proffered slice. It was everything he refused himself. It was a salty, fatty, delicious pile of bread and cheese! He had to eat it!
  * Once he realized how much he had eaten (half of a large pizza, one slice fewer than Noctis), regret immediately set in. He felt gross. He ate more calories in one sitting than he usually did in two days, and, unlike Noctis, didn't have the Crystal constantly draining his energy. He slunk off to the bathroom to wash some of the grease off of his hands. His stomach was twisting in revulsion. He had to do something to fix his dire mistake, but what? He remembered something he had seen on some of the shadier-looking diet forums he used to (and still did) visit. He knelt down in front of the toilet, leaned over, and…
  * The pizza incident may have been the first time Prompto made himself sick, but it wasn't the last, by any means. Once he realized how much better he felt after "undoing the damage to his diet," he found it to be the most convenient (and kind of satisfying) way to eat Noct's junk food without judgement. He managed to hide his actions from even Ignis! Although…
  * Ignis was really good at accidentally making Prompto feel bad for eating, despite thinking that he really would be better off with a bit more weight on him. His concern over Noctis and his nutrient-deficient diet sounded an awful lot to Prompto like reinforcement of his own terrible thoughts. Somehow, in Prompto's mind, "Noctis should eat more than just junk food" became "eating junk food makes you a bad person", which, in turn, became "avoiding food is required to be a good person". Strangely enough, those destructive rules only applied to himself. He didn't think any less of Noctis for his pizza-and-potato-chips habit, or Gladio's borderline obsession with Cup Noodles.
  * Eventually, regularly making himself sick at Noctis' apartment led to him getting caught. The poor prince was horrified, but had no clue how to help. All he knew was that telling someone else (Ignis or Gladio, mostly) without permission was a bad idea. Should he stop eating his favorite foods so Prompto wouldn't feel obligated to eat them and then vomit them back up? Should he physically stop Prompto from going to the bathroom after they ate? He had no clue what to do, and Prompto wasn't sure he wanted things to change.




End file.
